Bedford No. 3

Illustrated with an engraving by J. Basire in Repton (1812), who writes that this font was "probably executed from about the reign of King John [1199+] or Henry the Third" [1216+]; Repton (ibid.) further notes that "the lower part of the font at St. Cuthbert's is modern". Illustrated in a drawing of 8 May 1840 by Henry E.L. Dryden, now in the Sir Henry Dryden Collection, Northamptonshire. In its entry for Freat Woolstone, Bucks., the Victoria County History (Buckinghamshire, vol. 4, 1927) notes: "The font, which was removed from the old church of St. Cuthbert, Bedford, has a 12th-century round bowl, the face of which is relieved by four engaged shafts with scalloped capitals." Pevsner (1968) notes: "Font. Returned from Great Woolston. With four shafts in the corners of the rounded bowl." The Bedford County Council's Architecture of the Old Saint Cuthberts Church [www.bedfordshire.gov.uk/CommunityAndLiving/ArchivesAndRecordOffice/CommunityArchives/Bedford/ArchitectureOfTheOldSaintCuthbertsChurch.aspx] [accessed 10 September 2015] notes: "Former County Archivist Chris Pickford wrote a series for Bedfordshire Historical Record Society on Bedfordshire churches in the 19th century, from which this article is derived. In Volume I (A-G) of 1994 he states: "The old church is believed to have been of pre-Conquest origin but Glynne [see below] indicates that the earliest portions of the buildings were of 13th century date". Sir Stephen Glynne visited the church at some unspecified time before 1840 and recorded: "This is a small mean fabric, comprising only a nave & chancel. There is no steeple, but a wooden turret rises above the roof about the middle of the church. There is one lancet window on the South side, the others are chiefly of late Curvilinear character. The north doorway is early English, with good moulding & shafts. The chancel is separated from the nave by three arches of wood. On the south side of the altar are two Early English niches with extremely good mouldings & divided by a central shaft. The font is circular, supported by 4 shafts standing on a square base. The interior is newly pewed".